Hearing Voices

[Centerfield]

Steve Cohen visited the TV and radio booths on Saturday. He told Gary and Howie that they’ll be adding “voices” to the front office. When pressed he said it won’t necessarily be a GM, but someone who can support Stearns in player evaluation etc. 

Stearns has dismissed the idea of hiring a GM every time he’s asked. You wonder if Cohen is now looking to incorporate some checks and balances. 

[MFS62]

I had heard (read?) the the new "voices" may be different than pure analytics -types, but folks with more of a "feel" (the writer's words) for the game. Maybe they realize the approach ( as Edgy refers to it) isn't delivering their anticipated results.

Later

[Edgy MD]

I tend to think Greenie is going back to the front office, and I tend to think he'll get that GM role.

The dismissal of the notion of a GM, I think, has not been about "it's never gonna happen," so much as "it'll happen when it happens, so don't ask me about it."

I'll be happy if they add a bunting coach.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I'd been reluctant to say this till now but Stearns can go fuck off. Imagine acquiring Williams and letting Alonso go in the same offseason. Someone actually did that

[Benjamin Grimm]

Stearns reminds me of Irving Thalberg. Hailed as a young genius, I just see him as the guy who brought the Marx Brothers to MGM and made them less funny.

[Lefty Specialist]

26 minutes ago, Johnny Lunchbucket said:

I'd been reluctant to say this till now but Stearns can go fuck off. Imagine acquiring Jorge Polanco and letting Alonso go in the same offseason. Someone actually did that

Fixed that for you.

[Gwreck]

41 minutes ago, Benjamin Grimm said:

Hailed as a young genius

Stearns was hailed as a “young genius?”  Derivatives of that term are used pejoratively all the time around here but I’m not so sure that’s a fair description of how he was initially percieved

[Centerfield]

For me it was how he doubled down rather than adjust. Doubling down on Mendoza after 2025. Then again throughout 2026 to the point it was laughable. Even Cohen called it a mercy firing. At least a month past the point that it was defensible. Doubling down on the shitty pitchers that ruined 2025 to perform in 2026. Refusing to call up the young pitchers in 2025 while everyone with a brain was calling for it. 
 

I don’t know what pitching philosophies he’s instilled. But the word around baseball was that the Mets ruined Peralta and the Rays would fix him. That’s exactly what’s happened. Peterson has pitched better since the trade as well. 
 

I mean. Perhaps the only thing that could have gone worse for the Mets is if Stearns first choice (Kyle Tucker) would have accepted. 

I don’t know who the new voices will be.  And I reserve the right to revisit once we find out what direction they’re going.  But yeah.  Sign me up for new voices.

 

[Gwreck]

I’ll be curious to see what new voices might bring to the table on major-league player development.  

Over the past three seasons, it seems there’s been a significant lack of development (and/or backsliding in development) for Alvarez, Baty, Vientos, and Mauricio.  Maybe the answer is that none of them are very good — but each (maybe not Mauricio very much) have shown they can been good at times.

[Edgy MD]

2 hours ago, Centerfield said:

Refusing to call up the young pitchers in 2025 while everyone with a brain was calling for it.

I don't remember this.  I do remember accusations here that calling up Tong and was a desperation move that damaged him.

[ashie62]

It's ok to be wrong sometimes but Stearns has been epically wrong several times while being paid big money

His keeping Mendoza as long as he did as manager was mind boggling

Guy gots to go

 

[Centerfield]

I can’t link articles from my phone. But there was lots of clamor to call up McLean or Sproat rather than giving starts to Blackburn and the journeyman. 
 

in his post season press conference Stearns acknowledged he should have been more aggressive. 
 

Tong was not part of that discussion. He was only in AA. By the time he was called up, we were in desperation mode. 
 

I think it’s clear that Stearns never thought the playoff spot was in jeopardy during this time.  
 

 

[Edgy MD]

Blackburn stunk in 2025, but he had only one appearance for the Mets after June 28.

The guys starting down the stretch were McLean/Holmes/Sproat/Manaea/Peterson/Tong.

The first two were good, the last two were very bad, and the guy in the middle was pretty bad too.

The guy who got too much patience was probably Peterson.  Somebody should have replaced him but Sproat and McLean were already up, getting nine starts and two relief appearances between them in September.

Maybe they should have been more aggressive in calling people up in August, but August to me was more about the deadline trades being one clunker after another. 

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Stearns was hailed as a boy genius because of his demonstrated track record of success in a much smaller market. I don't get the hatred. 

People are making it seem like Pete was run out of town and traded like Tom Seaver, who was cast out by a spiteful front office. Pete left because one team offered him a contract that no one else even came close to offering. More power to him. He did turn down a 7-year, $158 million offer from the Mets in a prior year.

I totally get that moves completely backfired. It was a godawful shitty season where everything that could go wrong went wrong. Hopefully this is more like 1983 and it goes better from here. If he thinks added more "voices" to help, go for it. 

 

 

[Edgy MD]

My issue with Williams was not signing him, but riding him out there in the ninth chance after chance after chance, with so many other veteran relievers having great seasons, every lead they had was managed around getting the ball to Williams in the ninth.

Any manager who stops with the VIP treatment for his alleged closer is going to get so many smooches from me.

I don't think everything went wrong, though.  Certainly many or most of the short-term moves did.

[ashie62]

On cue Alonso hits two more homers tonight

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

3 hours ago, Edgy MD said:

 

I don't think everything went wrong, though.  Certainly many or most of the short-term moves did.

You are correct. Certainly the faith in Benge and Ewing was well-placed. Christian Scott and Zac Thornton stepped up. McLean looks like the real thing. The extension to Luis Torrens. 

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

He's good at unloading power hitters, hopefully this team can shed Soto as well

[Centerfield]

moves that went bad

1.  Nimmo for Semien trade
2. Jorge Polanco
3. Bo Bichette
4. Luis Robert Jr 
5. Freddy Peralta trade (including Tobias Myers)
6. Devin Williams
7. Craig Kimbrel
8. Luis Garcia
9. Mike Tauchman

 

moves that worked:

1. Luke Weaver
2. Daniel Duarte


 

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

54 minutes ago, Centerfield said:

moves that went bad

1.  Nimmo for Semien trade
2. Jorge Polanco
3. Bo Bichette
4. Luis Robert Jr 
5. Freddy Peralta trade (including Tobias Myers)
6. Devin Williams
7. Craig Kimbrel
8. Luis Garcia
9. Mike Tauchman

 

moves that worked:

1. Luke Weaver
2. Daniel Duarte


 

3. Giving the job to Carson Benge.

4. Calling up AJ Ewing and letting him play.

5. Inserting Christian Scott into the rotation and sticking with him.

6. Inserting Zac Thornton into the rotation and sticking with him.

7. Signing Luis Torrens to a two-year extension.

8. Selecting Andy Green as the interim manager.

9. Letting Bichette play third and improve there throughout the season. 

10. Finding a role for Senga as a high-leverage reliever.

 

[Gwreck]

1 hour ago, Centerfield said:

moves that went bad
 

Tommy Pham and MJ Melendez also go in the “went bad” category.  Tauchman is a tough add there.  He was a depth piece and had a freak injury; it happens.

Luis Robert is not necessarily a move that “went bad.”  It’s more fairly described as a move that went “as expected.”   2026 was remarkably similar to how he had played the prior two years in Chicago.  And of course Acuna has not been good.

Resigning Jared Young goes in the “moves that worked” column.
 

[Gwreck]

51 minutes ago, Marshmallowmilkshake said:

3. Giving the job to Carson Benge.

…

The problem is that all of the things that you listed that worked are associated with players who were already in the organization before this year.  Even Green was already in the fold.

And once we start examining the things that went well from players already in the organization, it’s only fair to also note the stalled/backsliding development of Baty, Vientos, Alvarez, Mauricio, Clifford, Tong, Wenninger, etc.

[Centerfield]

I think we have different definitions of “moves”.  My list is restricted to transactions made for the 2026 season. Of your list, I think only 7 and 8 qualify as “moves”. 

#9 is a move/decision that went objectively bad.

If you want to open the list to “decisions made, even those involving existing personnel” than I think the list is limitless. 
 

Decisions that went bad:

1. Letting Alonso go
2. relying on Manaea
3. relying on Senga
4. relying on Peterson
5. relying on Baty
6. relying on Vientos
7. Relying on Alvarez
8. not firing Mendoza during the winter
9. not firing Mendoza after the 12 game losing streak
10: not firing Mendoza in May
11. Firing Hefner 
12. hiring all of the coaches they hired
13. wasting time pursuing Kyle Tucker 
14. instituting the shitty pitching philosophy that ruined Manaea Senga Peterson Peralta Tong Myers
15. instituting the shitty hitting philosophies that resulted in down years from Bo, Baty, Vientos, Alvarez, Lindor, Robert
16. running the corpse of Jorge Polanco out there when he was clearly useless
17. Changing Tong’s arm angle
18. Running the corpse of Marcus Semien out there day after day when he’s clearly washed up
19. Playing Vientos in the field
20. Allowing save situations to dictate the use of Devin Williams
21. terrible baserunning 
22. not stressing fundamentals enough resulting in stupid baseball and Ronnie getting mad 
23. Sending Lindor in game 3 vs Pittsburgh 
24. Dicky Lovelady
25. Not playing Mauricio during these last two months
26. not resigning Rico Garcia
27. Demoting Zac Thornton 
28. not retaining Antoine Richardson
29. Scheduling Freddy Peralta jersey day in August
30. Wasting the opportunity we had to try Soto at 1B in meaningless games

I mean. I can keep going

[Centerfield]

Btw. I didn’t include Nate Lavender since this was not really a move we made. He was just returned to us. But to the extent he was an acquisition, he certainly worked out. 

[ashie62]

I think Steve Cohen is hearing voices

[ashie62]

5 hours ago, Centerfield said:

moves that went bad

1.  Nimmo for Semien trade
2. Jorge Polanco
3. Bo Bichette
4. Luis Robert Jr 
5. Freddy Peralta trade (including Tobias Myers)
6. Devin Williams
7. Craig Kimbrel
8. Luis Garcia
9. Mike Tauchman

 

moves that worked:

1. Luke Weaver
2. Daniel Duarte


 

You wanted to send Benge down as I recall and posted as such

Anyone can make a bad decision

[Gwreck]

3 hours ago, Centerfield said:

Btw. I didn’t include Nate Lavender since this was not really a move we made. He was just returned to us. But to the extent he was an acquisition, he certainly worked out. 

I just realized the McNeil deal wasn’t on any list.  

McNeil was replacement-level this year (slightly better offensively and slightly worse defensively than Semien), and the Mets saved $10M by sending him to Oakland…so this move is “neutral?”  

(I suppose it’s tough to look at the deal in a vacuum.  If the Mets had not traded Nimmo for Semien…and still shipped out McNeil…and thus played Baty everyday at third (with Bichette at second) things would have been slightly better on the whole, at least from a defensive perspective.)

[Centerfield]

1 hour ago, ashie62 said:

You wanted to send Benge down as I recall and posted as such

Anyone can make a bad decision

Who did. I did?  
 

I don’t remember saying that. But I agree. Anyone can make a bad decision. 

[Benjamin Grimm]

I probably would have sent him down, at least for a few weeks. It's good that they didn't.

And I've forgotten all about Jeff McNeil! I've mostly been missing Pete and Nimmo!

[metirish]